Campaign vendors to Newt: Where’s our money? Update: Newt rips Fox for being in the tank for Romney

posted at 7:46 pm on April 11, 2012 by Allahpundit

I wonder what would happen if he went to Romney tomorrow and offered to drop out in return for help with raising funds to pay off his growing campaign debt. Would Mitt take the deal? He doesn’t care if Newt’s in or out anymore so if he agreed it’d be a pure goodwill gesture in the name of uniting the party. There’s no risk in saying no since Gingrich has no leverage left over him, except maybe as a nuisance during the general election by speaking tepidly of Romney when asked. But even then, would Newt really try to punish Romney for rejecting his offer by badmouthing him to the media? He’s not going to be president so his aim now is to secure an “elder statesman” legacy for himself. That means campaigning hard for Mitt and laying into Obama at every opportunity, which will put him back in conservatives’ good graces. And if he pulls that off, his campaign debt will probably take care of itself.

No matter. It’s a moot point since he’s not dropping out. And so the debt keeps growing:

In interviews with HuffPost, many vendors listed in Gingrich’s Federal Election Commission debt disclosures said they’re still waiting to be paid, weeks or months after finishing work. Several said they’ve been given the runaround by campaign officials as they’ve tried to collect. Gingrich has vowed to slog on with his debt-ridden campaign, despite having won a mere 136 delegates, leaving some vendors to wonder when they can expect their checks.

Gingrich campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond told HuffPost that Newt 2012 is doing its best to pay people. “Vendors have been contacted and we are paying bills as swiftly as we are able,” Hammond said…

Scheffler said he’d been calling three different Gingrich campaign officials about the debt, but none have gotten back to him in weeks. On Tuesday morning he saw a clip of Gingrich on Fox News, insisting his campaign wasn’t going to end. “I am not conceding to Gov. Romney,” Gingrich said in the clip, taped the previous evening.

Scheffler was not impressed. “I can’t believe he’s talking like this with all the money he owes and he couldn’t care less about the small businesses he’s ripping off.”

That’s from HuffPo, which offers no hard numbers on how many vendors have yet to be paid (“many,” they say) but has multiple anecdotes about vendors getting the runaround when asking about their money. The campaign’s $4.5 million in the hole by Newt’s own admission, though (“We owe much more than we wanted to”), so obviously this isn’t a case of cherry-picking a few cases of people whose checks really did get lost in the mail. In fact, one vendor who spoke to HuffPo about not getting paid had donated $2,500 to the campaign. Gotta figure that’s the last guy Team Newt would want to stiff if they had a choice.

Via Greg Hengler, here he is on CNN today insisting that that $500 bounced check that got so much attention yesterday was a total fluke outlier type of thing that happened because of a banking screw-up, which is great but does nothing to explain all the other vendors. After you watch that, watch his new campaign commercial embedded below. So strapped for cash is his team, apparently, that they’re now cobbling together pro-Newt YouTube clips and calling them ads.

“I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through,” Gingrich said during the private meeting at Wesley College to which RealClearPolitics was granted access. “In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.”…

Gingrich did not pull his punches in accusing Rupert Murdoch — the chairman and CEO of the News Corporation, Fox News’ parent company — of pushing for Romney behind the scenes.

“I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’” Gingrich said. “And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.”…

“They know I don’t care about their opinions,” Gingrich said. “I don’t go to their cocktail parties. I don’t go to their Christmas parties. The only press events I go to are interesting dinners when the wife insists on it, so we’re going to go to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because she wants to. And we’re actually going to go to CNN’s table, not Fox.”

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Too bad all the RINOs have no idea what the word means. Conviction is not in their dictionary, lemmings that they are. Brainwashing on high scale, proven, implemented and perfected in USSR.

riddick on April 11, 2012 at 8:55 PM

Nice. Didn’t some old dude (at the time) who is now dead once say that we may debate and disagree but does that mean we have to hate each other?

What a fool he was apparently as the answer looks like it was yes, we do, Silly old man.

I just love it though when the “betters” come down to tell everyone how much smarter and more advanced they are and why they should be the voice listened to- though I admit usually these days it is Obama doing it but hey, stare into the abyss long enough and I guess the abyss does stare back and one does become that which they once hated.

CNN really has been more fair and balanced in their coverage of the Republican primary.

FloatingRock on April 11, 2012 at 8:53 PM

Wasnt it CNN that jumped on the ABC story about Newts second ex-wife? But I actually dont care about media bias right now. Its spilled milk at this point and no matter how lil you like it, we will need FNC to get the community organizer out of the Oval Office.

Newt isnt helping himself or anybody else. He seems to morph into the Olbermann of the conservative movement.

I just love it though when the “betters” come down to tell everyone how much smarter and more advanced they are and why they should be the voice listened to- though I admit usually these days it is Obama doing it but hey, stare into the abyss long enough and I guess the abyss does stare back and one does become that which they once hated.

Betenoire on April 11, 2012 at 9:05 PM

I lived in the “abyss”, aka USSR, so between the two of us I know who knows much about that “abyss” and who only pretends to know (or is foolish enough to think so). Save your smarmy replies for someone who cares. I know what CONVICTION is, you obviously don’t. Voting for a progressive over a communist is not a choice for me, sorry to burst your bubble.

While I don’t agree with everything Newt says or does, I do agree with him on this. I watch Fox all the time and Hume, Rove, and the others have no shame in their flagrant pimping for Romney. It’s just the truth.

sleepingiantsup on April 11, 2012 at 8:08 PM

I haven’t watched Fox at night since the last general election, but I do watch all day and yes, Fox was blatant in its Newt-bashing and pro-Romney bias. When Gingrich soared past Romney after Iowa, A.B. Stoddard had a shrieking fit on Special Report and it was all downhill on Newt from there. Cripe, even Trippi was more honest than the rest when he said he thought Gingrich would have been a much tougher opponent than Romney.

Wasnt it CNN that jumped on the ABC story about Newts second ex-wife? But I actually dont care about media bias right now. Its spilled milk at this point and no matter how lil you like it, we will need FNC to get the community organizer out of the Oval Office.

Newt isnt helping himself or anybody else. He seems to morph into the Olbermann of the conservative movement.

Valkyriepundit on April 11, 2012 at 9:06 PM

It was John King who went after Newt in that debate that was hosted by CNN and Wolf Blitzer.

Fox News abandoned their tea party focus months ago, in the final days of the debt ceiling fight, and decided to “move to the center” according to reports, but on their way to the center, which means responsible government and balanced budgets, they took a hard-right turn into corporatism where they find themselves supporting Romney.

the ONLY ONE discussing HATE is you MOBYs, and the fact remains that you have nothing to offer or you would produce it instead of attacking REAL, unashamed Republicans.

Your candidate is TOAST if you refuse to gird your loins and volunteer to work for him since we Conservatives are tired of changing the GOPs diapers, so best get rested. Your work is cut out for you … unless you don’t have the courage of your convictions like the other Mittens supporters here.

And I’m not sure why Newt wouldn’t just lend the money to his campaign to keep something this embarrassing out of the news — unless he wants to draw attention to his plight to garner more donations. It’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of money of his own.

cynccook on April 11, 2012 at 8:07 PM

$500,000 Tiffany’s credit line notwithstanding, I don’t think he has the kind of money he would need to bail out his campaign. He had to borrow the money to pay the $300,000 fine he got as Speaker.

Hillary had a lot of trouble paying off her campaign debts, as well. Neither one came from money or had been particularly successful financially. Not poor, but not having hundreds of millions to spend on a campaign.

I stopped watching FNC about a year ago. There are very few true conservatives other than Sarah Palin on FNC. Lots of RINOs, lots of neocons and an ever increasing number of liberals.

It’s no secret that Ailes and Murdoch’s goal is to position FNC just to the right of CNN.

bw222 on April 11, 2012 at 9:22 PM

When the likes of Beckel have a regular daily show and Palin is just a guest voice there is something really wrong with the news organization that claims “balance”. “Balance” is not manifested by an ever increasing number of communists able to spout their idiocy to the public and get paid (handsomely) to do so. They all should be required to live in their “paradise” of choice, Russia/Cuba/North Korea for a period of time before they are allowed to speak on the subjects they have no actual experience with. I’d be happy to appear next to WhoAnn/Beckel/Gerry and actually challenge their stupidity with my real life experiences with communist ideal. So will millions of others who left these hell holes.

What a shocker! Deadbeat check bouncing candidate attacks the elite media, hoping to get sympathy from gullible true cons. Maybe Mitt could offer to pay for his mental health care. Great way to dump on Calista too:

“They know I don’t care about their opinions,” Gingrich said. “I don’t go to their cocktail parties. I don’t go to their Christmas parties. The only press events I go to are interesting dinners when the wife insists on it, so we’re going to go to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because she wants to. And we’re actually going to go to CNN’s table, not Fox.”

And may I say to all of you who went after me yesterday when I pointed out what a jackass he had been on Hannity, I do hope you’re making note of this sleazy and irrational behavior, and won’t come back and tell me again how graceful and statesmanlike he is, and how mean hateful I am for not crediting him for agreeing to support Romney after the convention – as if this deserves a medal or something.

“In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.”…

I dislike Mittens as much as the next real conservative, but the time has come and gone for challengers. We are stuck with this guy and Newt isn’t going to do anything but make matters worse. I don’t know how many book deals and speaking positions Newt thinks he can milk from this experience, but it is getting shameful.

the likes of Beckel have a regular daily show and Palin is just a guest voice there is something really wrong with the news organization that claims “balance”

Seriously? It’s not enough that they have Fox & Friends, most guests during the day, Cavuto, O’Reilly, Hannity and Greta? You’re upset that one of the five regulars on The Five (1/5th) is a liberal?! Go watch MSNBC instead – you’ll get more ideological purity.

When the likes of Beckel have a regular daily show and Palin is just a guest voice there is something really wrong with the news organization that claims “balance”. “Balance” is not manifested by an ever increasing number of communists able to spout their idiocy to the public and get paid (handsomely) to do so. They all should be required to live in their “paradise” of choice, Russia/Cuba/North Korea for a period of time before they are allowed to speak on the subjects they have no actual experience with. I’d be happy to appear next to WhoAnn/Beckel/Gerry and actually challenge their stupidity with my real life experiences with communist ideal. So will millions of others who left these hell holes.

riddick on April 11, 2012 at 9:30 PM

At least when Colmes was on the same show with Hannity, it was somewhat interesting to see them spar…but in general, why can’t we have just one conservative news network? Other than the plethora of Libtards, my other complaint is that they show really very little hard news.

As for the Communist utopias, I still cringe at the mere thought of ever living like that. The ‘tards are convinced that if it weren’t for the resistance of the reactionaries and interference by U.S. imperialism, these would be awesome places to live.

Those people at the CNN table he will be sitting with all hate his guts. There isn’t one person employed by CNN who likes him or his wife and they all probably wish ill will his way.

Way to cut your nose off to spite your face Newt. You didn’t win the nomination because you cracked and showed the New Gingrich no one likes…not because of Fox News. Your personality flaws bought you down…ring a bell?

Your candidate is TOAST if you refuse to gird your loins and volunteer to work for him since we Conservatives are tired of changing the GOPs diapers, so best get rested. Your work is cut out for you … unless you don’t have the courage of your convictions like the other Mittens supporters here.

DannoJyd on April 11, 2012 at 9:18 PM

oh, shut up already or at least stop whining, nobody asked you to volunteer for him or fill his coffers…a lot of us have been taking care of that and will continue to do…Romney has enough volunteers and a rather large on-the-ground organization plus more big and small donors than any GOP candidate would dream of, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s going to raise more money than any other Rep candidate in history…ad the PACs to that and he’s got that part covered…

It’d behoove the mittbots not to count their chickens before they roost. It just may happen that they’ll decide to roost anywhere else but chez Mittness.

Let’s see if turnout in the coming primaries either get depressed, or ron Paul starts winning some of them or even newt. Seeing that Santorum only suspended his campaign, his name should still be on the ballot as well as any other attempts by the remaining voters to stop Mittness from winning the 1144.

A brokered convention is still possible if the majority of the remaining voters will it. Afterall, isn’t that the key mantra? The will of the people must be respected? Well, we’re still barely halfway to the convention. Heck, Sarah may be on soon to recommend that PA vote for Santorum to slow Mittness down or ron or newt. ABR 2012

That’s funny, I’ve been thinking HotAir has been politically bought just like Fox, too. It’s one thing to come out for Santorum, but it’s another, and a pretty damned lame editorializing, too, to repeatedly use stock-ugly photos of politicians in place of relying on precise headlining, skill at chooseing content and insightful commentary. To see the stock photo of Obama (as very bad as he is) scowling into the camera is disingenuous enough to keep me from clicking on the link since I can be pretty sure that the article will just be a hit piece. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

But to look at the photos Hotair has chosen to portray Gingrich for the last few weeks is the icing on the cake. You found a bad-lighting photo of him looking like a psychotic shaved pug dog. Only after Santorum pulled out and Romey is a lock has HotAir eased back to using respectful photos of him. It’s like watching a rage subside. I’ve been reading HotAir since 2007, but lately the commentary is thoughtless and, ultimately, pointless.

And I don’t come to HotAir for my first-line news anymore. I’ll blame it on TownHall. But I pretty much go to other sites now for news, and turn to MM’s personal site to get cutting-edge opinion.

Agree. The commentary used to be quite thoughtful. With the exception of a few of the HA stalwarts, it has really degenerated since open registration. My favorites: cyncook, Canopfor, dire, OmahaConservative, hawk, cindymunford, ALT, MadCon, etc. hotair is no longer my go to site, usually my second or third.

Newt is right. I’ve never seen Fox as almost sponsoring a candidate as they have with Romney. From the beginning, the meme was always “Romney’s inevitable.” They aired all the dirty laundry of the other candidates but were soft on Romney. And Karl Rove was on every show on Fox showing how Santorum and Gingrich couldn’t win. Interviewers would continually ask Santorum and Gingrich why they are still in the race after Romney’s supposed victory in Iowa! And Brit Hume whom I respect was one of the worst offenders with his commentary. Don’t blame Newt for the comments — they are true.

It’s not really a surprise, considering that Hannity and Newt have known each other for well over 25 years.

Myron Falwell on April 11, 2012 at 9:04 PM

Newt was openly Hannety’s choice until about 2 months when someone had a “talk to” with Sean, his views radically changed. OVERNIGHT. LITERALLY.

riddick on April 11, 2012 at 9:06 PM

The problem is, Hannity has had this problem for years. He talks a good game about Conservative values, but when you get to the root of his views, he’s just simply an “Anyone with an R by their name” guy. And like all of them, he always reliably comes back around to being a “True Conservative” when a RINO blows up in the party’s face, as he rewrites history and talks about how he knew better.

Then again, Newt’s no better, and is now magically a “True conservative” after all his years lobbying for more Big Government spending.

What Newt said about FOX being inthe tank for Romney is absolutely true. It has been obvious for some time. I think Rick Santorum also said pretty much the same thing at one point.

Yesterday, Newt was interviewed during the FOX late morning show, and my reaction was that the FOX interviewer should have worn a large Romney button in proper disclosure. Newt handled it graciously, but it did FOX no credit.

Newt should be the GOP nominee. Newt was a “Young Turk” captain in the Reagan Revolution, was a House GOP leader led the GOP takeover of the House for the first time in decades based on the “Contract With America” and was the Speaker forced Bill Clinton to balanced budgets and welfare reform. Newt is the heir to Reagan, and that is what we need now to confront and defeat Obama. We don’t need an Etch-A-Sketch liberal in Romney, who voted for Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Paul Tsongas.

For those of you who think we need to get behind Romney and go after Obama, I say that getting it right in terms of the nominee is more important. It did not hurt the Democrats in 2008 one bit that Hillary and Obama fought until June. I have a real concern that Romney would lose to Obama and another real concern that even if elected that Romney would be a liberal like he was when Massachusetts Governor when Romney raised fees and taxes, increased spending, was adamantly pro-abortion rights, appointed liberal pro-abortion rights Democrats to the state judiciary, oversaw Massachusetts being 47th in the country in job growth, and championed RomneyCare (socialized medicine at the state level), which Romney has never disavowed, which resulted in billions of dollars of sky rocketing health care costs and which is the precursor to ObamaCare (socialized medicine at the national level).

Newt: “I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through,” Gingrich said during the private meeting at Wesley College to which RealClearPolitics was granted access. “In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year. We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we’re more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That’s just a fact.”…
Gingrich did not pull his punches in accusing Rupert Murdoch — the chairman and CEO of the News Corporation, Fox News’ parent company — of pushing for Romney behind the scenes.
“I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney,’” Gingrich said. “And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.”…
“They know I don’t care about their opinions,” Gingrich said. “I don’t go to their cocktail parties. I don’t go to their Christmas parties. The only press events I go to are interesting dinners when the wife insists on it, so we’re going to go to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because she wants to. And we’re actually going to go to CNN’s table, not Fox.”

Right on, Newt! Santorum and Newt speak the truth about Fox News.

Fair and balanced became ‘push Romney’ and Fox News has lost all credibility.

I dislike Mittens as much as the next real conservative, but the time has come and gone for challengers.

deuce on April 11, 2012 at 9:55 PM

Deuce…I’m sorry but that comment there makes it appear that ALL those that back Romney are not REAL conservatives. I am not sure if that is what you implied/insinuated/inferred BUT there are REAL conservatives like myself and millions of others that have been voting since Ford, Reagan, etc AND that DO LIKE Romney.

What frustrates me is that I have been ALL FOR THE TEA PARTY since its inception and it seemed over time there were those in the Republican Party that decided on their own of who were the REAL conservatives if they ONLY backed certain candidates. This is flat out wrong and close minded. :o) Certain people in the party should not try to corner the market of conservatism and push others out. That is a losing option EVERY TIME.

This is a MEGA-disconnect on his part. CNN is egging him on in the hopes of keeping Republicans in disarray, NOT because they’ve suddenly found Jesus regarding journalistic integrity. Fox isn’t taking his candidacy seriously anymore because his prospects for winning the nomination are pretty much non-existent. IOW, his candidacy is not serious. I suspect he might still have some friends there as well, who knows?… because they don’t appear overtly interested in publicizing what has been essentially a nasty crash-n-burn followed by a break with reality.